V.V. Rouleaux, the fancy ribbons and trimmings supply store in Marylebone, has a sort of Norwegian Wood thing going on with its facade. The exterior walls are paneled with squares of tree bark and clustered pine cones line the windows. They can always be counted on to do something interesting, but this seems an unusually rustic approach. (Maybe it's because this year is the 60th anniversary of the song "Norwegian Wood"?)
Aside from some minor housekeeping, I was a complete slug yesterday. I mostly read The New Yorker. I've worked my stack down to only two magazines, which is pretty darn impressive, if I do say so myself. The New Yorker is the literary equivalent of the chocolates on the assembly line in "I Love Lucy" -- enjoyable, but man, you've got to keep up or you'll be buried. I even read a couple of the fiction pieces, which I usually skip -- stories, in this case, by David Szalay and Lauren Groff, both of whom I really like as writers.
Now maybe I can finally move on to my next book -- "The Bee Sting," by Paul Murray, which I've been meaning to read for ages.
Our cold weather has diminished for the next day or two, but now it's windy -- which is also a problem for the avocado, draped as it is in all that billowing fabric. I keep expecting the whole thing to launch into the sky like a box kite. I went out this morning and wrapped some twine around it to try to contain it a little, but I probably should have staked the tree in the pot to give it a little more strength. Oh well. Learning experience. I have to keep it wrapped for now because we're getting more freezing nights this week.
When I went to Pret in Belsize Park several days ago, I amused the woman at the counter by asking to take a picture of their very '70s "Have a Happy Day" service bell. I guess if a customer has to ring a bell to get someone's attention they may already be a little cranky, so the bell counteracts that?
Anyway, I'm going to need that picture as I go back to work today. We have an all-school meeting in the morning followed by various training sessions focused on technology. I just need some time to get the library into shape with some fresh displays, get the new periodicals checked in and on the shelves, that kind of thing. Daily routine beckons!
I hope you're having a good start today, Steve.
ReplyDeleteDaily routine beckons for me from tomorrow onwards, since today (Epiphany) is a public holiday in my part of Germany - good for us, so the first full week of the new year is actually a "short" one.
It's interesting that the 6th is an official holiday. In the states some people call it "Little Christmas."
DeleteOh boy. I really do NOT miss that back-to-work-after-Christmas-break feeling!
ReplyDeleteHa! I can imagine! :)
DeleteThe shop front looks interesting.
ReplyDeleteAh, yes. Norwegian Wood. A Beatles song.
That chocolate scene in the Lucy show was so funny. Didn't she start eating them to reduce the numbers?
Yeah, she started shoving them into her mouth. Definitely one of the best (and most famous) Lucy scenes.
DeleteSmily faces have the opposite effect on me. Kind of like when you’re about to explode and someone says “Just chill.” Yeah, that helps. Hope your first day back is going better than expected.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind a smiley face, but "just chill" is super-annoying!
DeleteBeing a "complete slug" and indulging in The New Yorker doesn't sound so bad; I completely understand the joy and the challenge of keeping up with it! David Szalay and Lauren Groff are indeed fantastic writers, so it's great that you took the time to enjoy their stories.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure most of the fiction published in The New Yorker is excellent, but I just don't have time to tackle it all!
DeleteAnd so another year of fulfilling librarianship begins... "What larks, Pip".
ReplyDeleteOne hopes!
DeleteSmiley faces make me growl and scowl! My inner contrarian coming out.
ReplyDeleteFor so many years I got two weeks off per year, and during the petcare years possibly a couple of long weekends. So I guess I can't quite fathom the back to work thing!
Yeah, when I was a newspaper reporter I got two weeks off a year. Hard to imagine now!
DeleteI like the smiley bell but it won't work on me!!!
ReplyDeleteHa! You and all the other contrarians here.
DeleteThinking back, I'm not sure when the last time I've walked into someone's house and seen magazines at all. I myself probably gave them up ten years ago (at least for reading) because I found that it robbed me of time reading books and I never seemed to be able to remember what I had read in a magazine more than a couple days. I did continue to subscribe to a woodworking magazine full of plans that I never read unless I was going to utilize one of their plans up until a few years ago. But then I started looking at the cost of their plans online and realized that it was much cheaper to just buy the plan when I needed it instead of subscribing to a magazine in case I might want that plan someday.
ReplyDeleteThe only time I see magazines are in waiting rooms and even those are being replaced by blaring televisions and I guess personal cellphones.
Yeah, I think most people resort to their phones now for the incidental reading that they would previously have done in magazines. Which is a shame, because there are still tons of good magazines out there. But many are struggling!
DeleteMy friend Lis would expire from joy if she got the chance to walk into that store.
ReplyDeleteI'd probably like it too.
Am I the only person who hates to ding those little bells? It just seems so rude. And yet...sometimes it's the only way to get an employee.
I hope that going back to work isn't too brutal.
I think a lot of people hate using bells. I have wind chimes hanging over my desk that the kids can ring to call me, if I'm out of sight in the shelves. But they never like to do it.
DeleteI loved that episode of I Love Lucy! That one and the Vitameatavegamin are my favorites.
ReplyDeleteProbably the two most famous Lucy episodes!
DeleteYour comment that the song Norwegian Wood is 60 years old was a bit of a facer this morning--though it shouldn't be at my age. My Rubber Soul LP was played so often the grooves should have been deep enough to turn it into lace object. Even now, when I listen to NW, I still can start to sing each subsequent song before it even starts to play. A good memory.
ReplyDeleteIt's shocking, isn't it? And yet it still sounds quite contemporary, as do many Beatles songs.
DeleteYes, today is the real start of the new year when we all go back to our usual daily routines though the kids won't be back in school until Thursday here. It's really cold here this morning, currently 31˚ but clear blue sky. We finally let our subscription to National Geographic go several years ago, the one magazine we had subscribed to always. Same thing, they just pile up and seems a sin to throw them out.
ReplyDeleteThanks Steve. Now I have Norwegian Wood stuck in my head.
DeleteThere are worse earworms! We used to get NatGeo when I was a kid and I always looked through them -- and learned a lot from the pictures and maps -- but I'm not sure I really read them.
DeleteThe picture, maybe. You could definitely use the bell proper! I need to visit that shop when next I come. Not that I need another ribbon but a woman can look, can't she? That's an area we never really saw on our previous trips. I love it when there is something new -- and in London, there is always something new! Fifty years for that song -- now I feel old.
ReplyDeleteI'm not really a ribbons & bows person but I think if you're into that, that store is probably heaven!
DeleteI sure do not miss that "going back to work after winter break" feeling. Today my friends who are still working got a reprieve as the schools were cancelled due to snow!
ReplyDeleteWow! A snow day right away! What an unexpected bonus!
DeleteNorwegian Wood conjures image of a randy young Norwegian for sure- the shop looks like compost.Neither of those things intended I am sure, my brain is not right.
ReplyDeleteJust from you having to go back to work fills me with that icky feeling in my middle- like having to babysit for fitty cents an hour when i was a teen. My whole self said NO but reposibility said YOU MUST. Maybe , if you make a polite noise this year , thing may be different in your work world- only you can make it better because you are smart to see what needs doing and what is just BS.
I never thought of "Norwegian Wood" in quite that way! LOL! We'll see how the work world evolves.
DeleteYou see the bell and miss all the good food!
ReplyDeleteOh, no, I ate the food too. :)
DeleteThat store front is impressive. I seem to remember that they do a lot of lavish decorating. I love the bell. It made me smile.
ReplyDeleteUsually it's ribbons. I've never seen them do a natural look like this!
DeleteI was surprised to read that there is a store that only sells ribbons and trimmings, and survives. Obviously, London has more rich people than here:)
ReplyDeleteA yellow smiley face always makes me smile.
I wonder if they do a lot of business online? It seems like a pretty niche place, but it's also pretty famous, I think.
DeleteI like the look of the Norwegian Wood; someone went to a lot of work! Most of our schools here are going back today. I remember it as a tough transition and the feeling of a long winter slog ahead. One of my Book Club members tried to read "The Bee Sting" and couldn't get into it/finish it. I'll be interested in your take on the novel. A smiley face! Shades of the '70s indeed.
ReplyDeleteOK, interesting to hear that about "The Bee Sting." The scuttlebutt here was that it would win the Booker, and then it wound up NOT winning. So I'm not sure what to expect.
DeleteBack to work for you, Steve! Hope all goes well!
ReplyDeleteFingers crossed!
DeleteThe back to work transition is not easy.
ReplyDeleteThe Norwegian Wood exterior is a bit rustic and bland for me. The lack of contrast is calling for some color or some kind of pop.
I hope the avocado is okay and the cold blast does not last long.
I actually agree -- I think it needs some color. The avocado seems to be hanging in there but I don't think it's very happy.
DeleteI was wondering what those things lining the windows were. They look more like coconut shells to me. And is that lady just entering the store or waiting to be first in line when the door opens?
ReplyDeleteShe is in the act of walking in. She paced back and forth in front of the window a bit before taking the plunge.
DeleteI love the happy face bell. I always hate to have to ring one, but sometimes it's necessary!
ReplyDeleteYeah, sometimes you gotta do it.
DeleteOh that service bell! One of my kids worked in the deli section of a large supermarket and on one particular day the bell was being abused more than used. People would ding-ding-ding instead of just ding and after several hours of this my child marched out from the back room where she was putting chickens on the spit roast rods and ripped the bell off the counter and took it into the back room.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure it does get grating after a while if people use it a lot. I never heard this one get run the entire time I was eating lunch there, but maybe if no one's behind the counter it happens.
Delete